Automotive refinish coatings technology has brought a wave of freshness in the automotive industry. They immediately enhance a vehicles aesthetic value. This report provides information about how digital workplace technology is changing the automotive refinish coatings industry. The main focus here is Axalta, one of the world’s biggest paint and coating company and the struggles and challenges it faced with operations. One of the biggest challenges for Axalta has been notifying the initiation and authorization of the changes in prices and getting approvals. Thus, the requirement of an efficient digital workplace technology. This study signifies the interlinking of two major industri

Automotive refinish coatings technology has brought a wave of freshness in the automotive industry. They immediately enhance a vehicles aesthetic value. This report provides information about how digital workplace technology is changing the automotive refinish coatings industry. The main focus here is Axalta, one of the world’s biggest paint and coating company and the struggles and challenges it faced with operations. One of the biggest challenges for Axalta has been notifying the initiation and authorization of the changes in prices and getting approvals. Thus, the requirement of an efficient digital workplace technology. This study signifies the interlinking of two major industries.

Introduction:

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (Axalta), integrated in 1866, is a holding company. Axalta is the manufacturer, marketer and distributor of coating systems initially helping the transportation industry. Segments of Axalta involves Transportation Coatings and Performance Coatings. With the help of Performance Coating’s segment, the company offers the solutions of powder and liquid coatings to the base of local and fragmented customer. With the help of Transportation Coatings segment, the company offers coating technologies to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of commercial and light vehicles.

The Performance Coatings segment helps several end markets, comprising industrial and refinish. It develops, markets and supplies a portfolio of coatings systems and color matching technologies. Its color matching technology offers Axalta-specific formulations that permit body shops to match thousands of vehicle colors, regardless of vehicle brand, color, age or supplier of the original paint during production. Within the industrial end market, Axalta focuses on coatings for an array of applications, comprising heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC), appliances, and electrical storage components, as well as coatings used for coating the interior of metal drums and packaging; coatings to insulate copper wire used in motors and transformers and coatings to cut off sheets forming magnetic circuits of motors and transformers; exterior powder coatings used in the construction of commercial structures, residential windows, and doors and protective clothing, as well as liquid interior and exterior house paint; coatings for vehicle constituents, chassis and wheels, and powder products to coat tanks, pipelines, valves and fittings protecting against chemicals, corrosion and extreme temperatures in the oil and gas industry.

Axalta provides a range of solvent-borne and waterborne products and systems utilized by the industry of global automotive repair to refinishing scratched vehicles. Axalta’s refinish products and systems involves the coating layers mandatory to match the vehicle’s appearance and color, manufacturing a repair surface different from the adjacent surface. Axalta offers a portfolio of products for applications, involving architectural fittings & cladding, gas pipelines, job coaters, general industrial and electrical insulation coatings. Industrial brands of Axalta are Abcite, Alesta and Nap-Gard for powder and Voltatex, Durapon, AquaEC, Hydropon, XT and Ceranamel for liquid coatings.

The Transportation coatings segment helps to supply and developing a coating product line for light vehicle OEMs for innovative coating of new vehicles. Axalta supplies and develops a range of coatings systems for the commercial applications, comprising agricultural construction equipment (ACE), rail, bus and heavy-duty truck (HDT). Transportation coatings segment has developed Harmonized Coating Technologies, comprising 2-Wet Monocoat, Eco-Concept and 3-Wet. Commercial vehicle brands of Axalta are AquaEC, Corlar Epoxy Undercoats, Rival, Centari, Imron Elite, ImronExcelPro and Imron.

Because of the continuous growth of the business in current years, Asia-Pacific division of Axalta was suffering from the huge challenges with the approval process of internal price change, owing to the requirement of a different system of their several branches. The procedure of getting approval was very difficult and in crucial need of an integrated system to interchange the current method for recording the initiation and endorsement of price changes all over the Asia-Pacific region.

Explanation:

Resulting wide, continuous research and association with Asia Pacific Axalta Coating Systems in around six countries, Axalta Price Approval System (APAS), a novel, intellectual pricing approval system centered on Microsoft SharePoint 2013 built by Avanade. Accordingly, Asia Pacific’s marketing professionals of Axalta Coating Systems in every area can now note in the system with the help of several mobile devices enabling for the real-time request of price change. Marketing professionals have the right to fully operative mobile office is lessening the time for the approval process and eventually increasing the speed of business.

A procedure of the marketing professionals work:

The app at the appointed time sends requests to the Asia Pacific division marketing director for the approval and review. Simultaneously, the candidate is kept acquainted of the status of the request through email. The complete procedure is logged and changes in parameter are recollected. While designing the whole system, a team of Avanade also made sure that the interface of end-user was spontaneous and simple, making it convenient for non-IT professionals to use.

Characteristics of the Axalta Price Approval System (APAS):

• Functioned in approving the workflow engine-based price change.
• Automated management with SAP expense data.
• Automated management with SAP master data.
• Works for form and list-based cost search, add, edit and delete.
• Majority import of thousands of tons of data items.
• Excel-based comparison of price and authentication reports.

Conclusion:

APAS – intellectual pricing approval systems – built by Avanade offered several business advantages used for Axalta Coating Systems:

• Significantly decreased the difficulty of the approval process and price change.
• Augmented accuracy in data.
• Enhanced productivity.
• Decreased total cost by around 30%.
• Relocated the business a step nearer towards the objective of a detailed digital workplace.

An acquainted, constant and easy user experience:

APAS offers a steady experience to the user, making user’s interaction easy with content, data and processes. Ever since workers at Axalta Coating Systems in the Asia Pacific were familiar to the new system, having the previous knowledge of using SharePoint, therefore, Avanade was able to finish the entire process of training in around one-two week.

Enhancing efficiency by restructuring the process of approval:

Axalta Coating Systems are having the smarter and programmed workflow for tracking, initiating and notifying the daily requests of price change and interrelated activities like tracking issues, approval, review and submission of the document. This significantly decreases the time spent on daily office work and enhances productivity, whereas the department of marketing can concentrate on making the business more cost-effective.

Accelerated trans-regional, data sharing by cross-system:

APAS supports Axalta Coating Systems organize the constant and precise data that is summed up within the region of Asia Pacific region and directly assimilated in the back-end system, offering integrated views and parameters for additional reporting and analysis. This ignores errors and redundancy occurred by exchanging between the systems and numerous information input, thus enhancing the accessibility and endurance of the analytical data.

Further development of Axalta:

With the change to the transformative digital business, Axalta is now placed to superior empower their workers, process efficacy, drive cost and eventually offer the good quality of service to consumers.